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76 Rhythms
The past few years have been a whirlwind for
Melbourne twins The Pierce Brothers. From playing
covers in pubs to busking on city streets to selling out
venues both here and in Europe, Jack and Pat Pierce
are on the fast track.
“We used to talk about it, and said, ‘We’ll have made it if
we ever sell out the Corner Hotel”, laughs Pat Pierce on the
duo’s meteoric rise. “That was our big thing, selling out the
Corner... we ended up doing it in November of 2014, and
it’s just kept going, it’s been a very strange ride.”
During March this year, the pair are touring here at home,
a run which includes the Blenheim Festival, Port Fairy
and Bluesfest, then they’re back to the UK in April, before
heading home in May to support The Cat Empire, do a few
more of their own shows, before heading back to Europe
again. Their blend of rootsy, bluesy influence, fine-tuned
with a sharp polish, has certainly hit chords.
Their debut EP, ‘Into The Dirt’, garnered them much
acclaim, and so the focus is now squarely on a debut
full-length. “Yeah, we’ve been looking at how we’re gonna
do this for a long time,” Pierce says. “We’ve hung out with
a bunch of producers and done some different types of
writing, some a bit more pop, some a little further away
from where we’re at... what we don’t think we’ve captured
yet [though], is our live vibe.
“A lot of people come to our shows and will go, ‘I get it’,
but they don’t get that in the record. So I guess what we’re
aiming for is... our music might be something you see us
play live, and then you buy the album. We’re trying to, we
think it’d be really cool, to maybe hear the record, then go
and see the band live.”
Blenheim Music and Camping Festival runs on March 25.
For more info, head to www.blenheimfest.com.au
SAMUEL J. FELL
Canadian trio The Jessica Stuart Few, led by Stuart
herself, have been described as “Hiatus Kaiyote
throwing a party with Joanna Newsom at Joni Mitchell’s
house,” and “like Stereolab throwing a party with Joanna
Newsom at Erykah Badu’s house. In Japan”. Indeed,
theirs is an eclectic blend of styles. This year they appear
in Australia for the third time.
“Australia has lots of things in common with Canada, but
way better weather, so that’s a good start on the appeal,”
Stuart tells Rhythms. “I love to swim, I love the desert
and mountains, and the smell of the gum forests, and the
different songs that the birds sing in Australia. In fact, two of
the tunes on my new album that we’re touring were written
based on birdsongs I heard on my previous two trips there!”
“My bandmates and I get to play in a bunch of different
awesome bands, so this group is my outlet for my creativity
and original music without any constraints in regards to
commercial appeal or popularity,” she explains.
“I think of it like a long-simmering stew, with a whole lot of
different ingredients being thrown in the pot. In our case,
the stew has some folk and pop elements, some jazz and
soul, and is approached from a rock band perspective.”
The focal point for The Few is, around which a lot of this
music is formed, the Japanese koto, a harp-like instrument,
which she grew to love via her mother. “My mother is a killer
musician and ethnomusicologist, and she was playing koto
before I was born, so I just always heard the sound around
the household,” Stuart concurs.
“I love the magical, dream- like quality the koto can have,
and just to have a different inspiration instrument besides
the guitar to use for musical ideas. I love the combination
of the sound of the double bass, drums and voice with
koto – there’s such a great matching timbre to the woody
instruments and it excites my ears!”
For the seventh year running, the Blenhein Music
and Camping Festival offers a wide range of sounds.
SAMUEL J. FELL previews just a couple.
THE JESSICA
STUART FEW
THE PIERCE
BROTHERS